In the Mountain and Sea Realm, within Azure, stands the Shushan Sect.
As the most powerful immortal cultivation sect in Azure, every time the Shushan Sect opens its gates to recruit disciples, it attracts countless people from all directions, each hoping to obtain a thread of immortal destiny.
Those born into prominent families naturally fear neither thousands nor tens of thousands of miles.
However, those of common birth can only rely on luck—either living close enough to the Shushan Sect, or possessing deep fortune to catch the eye of a sect elder.
Li Hanfeng, as a transmigrator, perhaps due to his previous life's merit from dying while saving others, retained his past-life memories after reincarnation. Though born into ordinary circumstances, he was fortunate to be born near the Shushan Sect.
Thanks to the Shushan Sect's protection, great demons and evil cultivators were virtually extinct in the surrounding area, allowing him to grow safely to age twelve when his spiritual roots solidified, granting him the opportunity to enter the immortal gate.
Spiritual root aptitude determines the speed of cultivation and largely decides how far one can progress on the immortal path.
Cultivation aptitude is ranked from low to high as: Inferior, Lower Grade, Middle Grade, Upper Grade, Extreme Grade, and Heavenly Grade.
Before joining the sect, Li Hanfeng had expected to possess the "classic" Inferior aptitude, but surprisingly, his test results revealed Upper Grade spiritual roots—quite impressive indeed.
Of course, the Shushan Sect, as the hegemon of the Mountain and Sea Realm, while valuing aptitude, was also willing to give those with lower aptitude a chance.
Anyone who could reach the Shushan Sect was considered destined. As long as one possessed some cultivation foundation, even those with Inferior aptitude could join the sect as probationary disciples—regardless of family background or spiritual root quality, everyone started as probationary disciples upon entering the sect, even those with Heavenly Grade roots.
After becoming probationary disciples, they would have three months of cultivation time.
After three months, a final assessment would be conducted.
Those who passed would become formal disciples; those who failed could either leave the sect or become servant disciples.
Servant disciples also had a path to become formal disciples, but among the tens of thousands of servant disciples in the Shushan Sect, only a dozen or even just a few could advance to formal disciples each year.
Li Hanfeng naturally didn't want to become a servant before advancing, so after joining the sect, he devoted himself entirely to cultivation without the slightest negligence—possessing past-life memories, he understood the importance of opportunities better than most twelve-year-old children.
Having learned to read before entering the sect, he spent only three days learning basic cultivation knowledge before beginning his practice.
The advantage of Upper Grade spiritual roots soon manifested. After starting cultivation, he successfully entered meditation within a day, and after two hours in meditation, he drew qi into his body, achieving the Qi Refining Realm.
Now, one month later, he had reached the third layer of Qi Refining, with only one step remaining to the fourth layer.
Among others with Upper Grade spiritual roots like himself, most were still at the first layer of Qi Refining, with those who could break through to the second layer considered outstanding.
His rapid progress had two reasons: besides his greater dedication, there was another factor.
Abundant resources made cultivation faster!
The Shushan Sect's foundation was profound—even probationary disciples received one Qi Refining Pill every ten days from the sect.
One Qi Refining Pill every ten days was insufficient for someone with Upper Grade aptitude's cultivation speed. Upper Grade spiritual roots refined pills faster, requiring approximately one and a half pills per day of cultivation.
Probationary disciples wanting more resources had two options: become formal disciples to receive increased resource allocation, or complete sect missions.
This day, Li Hanfeng came to the sect's Mission Hall as usual.
The vast Shushan Sect had multiple Mission Halls, each enormous in size. He went to the nearest one.
Upon entering the hall, he could see densely packed tables and chairs, with each table projecting a light screen.
This was reportedly new technology from a hundred years ago—spiritual qi projection technology. Those wanting to accept missions could select them directly on the spiritual qi light screens and accept them using their sect tokens.
Sect disciples were very satisfied with this acceptance method for its high efficiency.
However, Li Hanfeng went directly to the Mission Hall's management office, staffed by formal sect disciples.
The Shushan Sect maintained excellent conduct, and formal disciples didn't look down on probationary disciples.
"Senior Brother, I'm here to ask if there are any suitable missions?" Li Hanfeng, dressed in the Shushan Sect's standard white robe, smiled politely at the managing disciple Zhou Xuan.
Zhou Xuan looked helpless, saying, "Junior Brother Li, are you toying with me? You could clearly save trouble, yet you insist on asking me."
"Senior Brother, you know that—"
"You're a new disciple who doesn't understand the situation," Zhou Xuan interrupted Li Hanfeng's words. "Fine, I'll consider that you don't understand—this is normal, otherwise my position wouldn't exist. But you've been asking me for a whole month consecutively, which seems rather inappropriate, doesn't it?"
Li Hanfeng's expression remained unchanged. He had felt somewhat shy at first, but after a month, his skin had thickened. He looked at Zhou Xuan with sincere eyes, saying, "Senior Brother Zhou, please help me!"
Zhou Xuan became even more helpless, sighing, "I have no choice with you. Let me select a few suitable ones! Just like before, only two missions!"
"Thank you, Senior Brother. Just like before, only two missions!"
"I know. First, there's this one: [Cultivating Spirit Fields]. The mountain range where the spirit fields are located has abundant spiritual qi, very suitable for cultivation. Three days' time, and you can get one Qi Refining Pill for your final contribution points... And then there's this one..."
In fact, Li Hanfeng wasn't listening carefully at all.
Because after Zhou Yuan mentioned the first mission, mysterious text appeared in his mind—not in any script he knew, yet he could understand its meaning.
[Senior Brother introduces missions with considerable enthusiasm]
[Accept mission, incur weak karma, can obtain one Qi Refining Pill]
Seeing this text, Li Hanfeng wasn't surprised at all.
With Upper Grade spiritual roots plus a top-tier cultivation sect, he had already activated easy mode for cultivation.
And as it turned out, it could be even easier.
A month ago, when he first arrived at the Shushan Sect, he had awakened his golden finger.
The golden finger's ability was simple: after triggering certain events, text would appear in his mind, revealing the possible karma that event might generate.
Karma was divided into four levels from strong to weak: Great Karma, Small Karma, Strong Karma, and Weak Karma.
Whether accepting karma or severing karma, both could yield rewards.
If choosing to accept karma, the stronger the karma, the richer the reward.
Beyond this, there was another impressive aspect: when the golden finger spoke of severing karma, it truly severed it, allowing him to transcend involvement.
For example, with this sect mission, if he chose to refuse and sever the karma, the mission would be accepted by someone else the next moment, leaving him no chance for regret.
Of course, currently he could only sever karma three times per day.
To trigger karma required interaction with intelligent life, which was why he pestered Zhou Xuan to introduce missions.
After Zhou Xuan finished his introduction, he asked, "Junior Brother, how are these two missions?"
Li Hanfeng immediately snapped back to attention. Two missions had triggered two karmas, both weak karma, and the insignificant type of weak karma at that—otherwise the rewards wouldn't be so low.
He decisively chose to refuse, shaking his head, "Sigh, troubling Senior Brother again. These two missions won't work."
Zhou Xuan showed an expression of "just as expected," saying, "Do as you wish!"
Previously he would ask what wasn't satisfactory, but now he was accustomed to it. It was fortunate he was patient enough!
At this moment, new text appeared in Li Hanfeng's mind.
[Refuse missions, sever karmic entanglement, obtain two Qi Refining Pills]
After refusing both missions simultaneously, two Qi Refining Pills silently fell into his pocket.
To get good rewards, one had to accept karma.
Choosing to sever karma currently yielded uniform rewards of "Qi Refining Pills"—one pill per karma.
This was the main reason he refused these two sect missions.
If accepting and refusing yielded the same reward, why would he accept and then have to work?
Even though the work itself had rewards, his current cultivation level only needed two Qi Refining Pills daily, which was already sufficient, even slightly excessive—completely unnecessary.
Having obtained his desired result, he felt pleased.
Time for a meal, family!
Subsequently, under Zhou Xuan's helpless gaze, he left the Mission Hall and headed toward his courtyard.
With these two Qi Refining Pills, he could steadily break through to the fourth layer of Qi Refining.
However, just as he reached the probationary disciples' courtyard, he was stopped by a charming and lovely female disciple.
He recognized her—Wang Mingyue, from the same village as him, possessing Upper Grade spiritual roots.
In their village's generation, only he and Wang Mingyue possessed cultivation roots, both Upper Grade.
Of course, Wang Mingyue sought him out because they had always been close. Wang Mingyue had always liked clinging to him before, and it was the same after entering the sect. In one month's time, she had come looking for him seven or eight times.
"Brother Hanfeng, I've accepted a good mission that requires going down the mountain. Will you come with me?" Wang Mingyue's eyes held affection and expectation.
One of life's three great illusions: she likes me.
Moreover, he was only twelve years old, and the junior sister before him was also only twelve.
Li Hanfeng naturally remained unmoved.
At the same time, text appeared in his mind.
[Junior Sister's invitation brings inner joy.]
[Accept invitation, descend mountain to eliminate demons, incur Great Karma [Path of Destiny], can obtain Immortal-grade technique [Great Supreme Heavenly Immortal Formula]]
[Incurring this karma will simultaneously incur Great Karma [True Immortal's Gaze] [Ascension Tribulation] [Outer Domain Heavenly Demons]...]
[Incurring this karma will simultaneously incur Small Karma [External Enemy Attack] [Sect's Difficulty] [Rebuilding the Sect]...]
[Incurring this karma will simultaneously incur Strong Karma [Auction] [Divine Transformation's Son] [Ten Thousand Li Escape]...]
[Incurring this karma will simultaneously incur Weak Karma [Conspiracy]...]
"..."
Ah, this karma can reproduce?!